Bedford Borough Council is required by law to protect and maintain its public rights of way and to keep them available for public use. However, many paths are obstructed and cannot be used. Furthermore, not all paths are recorded. Some of these will be extinguished and lost for ever if not claimed by the year 2026. The Council could do more to resolve these issues and I believe it should focus its efforts to do so.

Friday, 20 December 2013

Guru Ravidass Lane, Bedford

A road in Bedford town
centre cannot be used as a through route because it is obstructed by a locked
gate.

Guru Ravidass Lane

(View towards Ashburnham Road)

The road, Guru Ravidass Lane, MK40 1ED,
runs between Ashburnham Road near Bedford Railway Station and The Avenue. I’m
not entirely sure of the circumstances that caused the situation so I asked the council if they would confirm
whether or not my statement below is true:"Currently, there’s a legal wrangle between
Bedford Borough Council and a landowner over a lane in Bedford. The Council
gave permission for a gate to be erected on Guru Ravidass Lane, Bedford but
following complaints now considers that the public have a right to walk along
the lane and require the locked gate to be removed to enable public access.This is interesting because Guru Ravidass
Lane is in what is called The Excluded Area which means, in a public rights of
way sense, that it is an area for which there is no Definitive Map and Statement.
It is also interesting because if the Council pursues the case and as a
consequence proves that the lane is a public footpath, the area (a) will get a
definitive map and statement and (b) the public’s right to walk along the lane
will be better protected.”The council’s response was:“I have no comments on
your statement.”A pity really
because it seemed I had found something positive to write about rather than
complain even if the result I hope for arises from a cock-up; a definitive map and statement for the excluded area of Bedford would be good news. And it would have been nice to be able to
report something optimistic during the season of goodwill. Truly. But it’s a two-way process.A Definitive Map and Statement is
a legal record of the position and status of public rights of way.The mapping of public rights of way started
in 1951 under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949. Four
separate maps were produced as part of the process of producing a Definitive
Map and Statement for the then county of Bedfordshire.

The 1949 Act allowed the County Council to
seek permission to opt out of the process for those urban areas which were
fully developed except that Bedford and Luton, as County Boroughs were not included in the areas that had to be mapped under the provisions of the 1949 Act. In the case of Bedfordshire therefore, Bedford, Biggleswade,
Dunstable, and Luton were excluded. Under current legislation the highway authorities for
these areas, Bedford Borough Council, Central Bedfordshire Council and Luton
Borough Council are required to publish a map of these areas – the so called
Excluded Areas. None have done so.It should be of great concern to the public because pre-1949 paths, which may include Guru Ravidass Lane (as well as, for example, alleyways such as those leading from and to the High Street, Bedford, and those paths that criss-cross The Embankment, Bedford) are at risk of being lost forever if not protected by the publication of a Definitive Map and Statement for The Excluded Area of Bedford.

1 comment:

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About Me

Crikey - how to sum me up. A son, brother, soldier, husband, father,
grandfather, local government officer, and nowadays a retiree and part time
whinger who enjoys walking locally in the historic county of Bedfordshire and loves
to backpack along the UK's long distance trails.

I am the Open Spaces Society’s representative for Bedford
Borough and I am a member of the council’s Local Access Forum.

I get grumpy because I strongly believe that my local council could and should do more to protect and open up the public rights of way network - as it has said it will. Our council's elected members and senior managers do not seem to care about our public rights of way.

Oh, and I enjoy pints of bitter and eat far too much. And I love to begin sentences with And.